by Renee Rose
“Thank you for coming with me this weekend.” I lift my head to meet his warm gaze.
His eyes crinkle, but he doesn’t quite smile. His smiles are rare, which makes it all the more exciting when I win one.
“I know this isn’t your scene at all. This was a huge favor to ask…” I guess I’m fishing. I feel like last night proved we’ve gone way beyond the fake date thing, but I’m honestly still not sure where we stand. The fact that he doesn’t want to marry and have kids should’ve made me stop hoping for something more, but it hasn’t. I’ve already fallen for this guy.
I want it all.
We dance past the gift table, piled high with everything a couple could want to start married life, including an entire set of Le Creuset cookware.
“Sadie.” Deke looks uncomfortable.
Oh God, he’s going to let me down gently now.
“I can’t be in a relationship. I’m… dangerous.”
I blink up at him. Finally, we’re getting things into the open. “Is this about the, um assault charges?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened?” My heart’s pounding, but I want to know everything, whatever it is.
“I get… protective. Over-protective. I was at a bar, and a woman seemed like she was getting hassled. I stepped in. But I sort of lost control. My wo—” He stops and gives his head a quick shake. “I used excessive force. I didn’t mean to, but I hurt the guys more than was necessary.”
“You don’t know your own strength,” I murmur.
“No,” he cuts me off sharply. “I do. Which is why that never should’ve happened. I should’ve kept control. Especially with civilians.”
I swallow. “It’s part of the PTSD, Deke. You’ve had to kill in the line of duty, right?”
He draws in a sharp breath then lets it out slowly. “Yeah. I… sometimes still do.” His gaze locks on my face, like he’s watching for signs that I’m horrified.
I am a little, but I’m careful to school my features. I should have guessed at this when he mentioned the multi-million dollar government contracts. No wonder they’re not allowed to date. They’re like… government hitmen. Or something.
I try on that idea to see if it makes me want to run screaming from Deke.
It doesn’t.
I lift my chin. “I don’t care,” I tell him.
He cocks his head. “You… you don’t? I mean, you should. Sadie, I’m not safe.”
I stop dancing and reach up, holding his face in both my hands. “You’re safe for me,” I tell him.
He hesitates. “I don’t know, Sadie. Those guys at the bar…”
“You went into attack mode because you thought you had to. It was a mistake. Deke, no one’s perfect.”
“I want to be for you.”
My heart lurches. He said for you.
He wants to be perfect for me.
Deke wants to be mine!
“Perfect is overrated. Perfect is what Scott and my dad want. They don’t care about the inside, so long as the outside looks good.”
Deke looks uncertain.
“You’re a good man, Deke. You protect those who can’t protect themselves. You have honor. Commitment. I don’t want you perfect. I just want you.”
Deke draws another quick breath, his eyes flashing green. His mouth descends on mine. Crashes down on my lips. Claims them. His large palm cups the back of my head, and his tongue sweeps between my lips.
I hear some giggles and murmurs around us. We’re standing in the middle of the dance floor, making out like wild, unruly teenagers.
It feels wonderful.
The kiss goes on forever. Long enough that I’m sure Deke’s forgotten where we are, so I pull away, laughing. “Let’s go upstairs,” I say.
He doesn’t hesitate. He sweeps me up in his arms, like I’m the bride, and carries me out of the ballroom.
Once we’re in the dark hotel room, it feels like everything moves in slow motion. He puts me down and silently unzips me. In the big bay window, the full moon shines her silvery light, gilding the dark earth with a magical aura. Fresh arousal blooms inside me, my pulse a steady drumbeat.
I let the gown pool at my feet and turn to face Deke in nothing but a thong. He’s stepped back, standing in the shadows. In his tux, he’s so handsome, I could cry.
He looks like he’s holding back again.
I take a step towards him. “I want you. You, Deke.” His scent flows over me, making me giddy, spinning me out. I don't know if it’s pheromones or the full moon. I’m going wild.
“Sadie, there’s more—” he says, but I grab him, mashing my mouth against his.
“I don’t care,” I mutter. “Whatever it is, I want you, anyway.”
He growls against my lips and rears up, ripping off his shirt, revealing his stunning torso. Oh yes. My ovaries are twerking. Let’s take this sex train to O town!
Deke
“Sadie-girl. I’m gonna fuck you so hard.”
Whoa. I don’t know where that came from. It definitely fell on the wrong side of the respect line, but Sadie doesn’t seem to mind. Her nimble fingers work the button on my tuxedo pants.
This woman is a gift. A fucking gift.
I stroke my hands up the bare skin of her back, mating our mouths again. I wanted to tell her about my wolf—bare all my secrets to her—but when she gave me an excuse not to, I took it.
Telling her is forbidden. I know what Rafe would say. What he’d say about all of this.
But I can’t hold back where Sadie’s concerned. Everything about her feels right. Her scent. The way her presence both calms and incites my wolf, her sweet, sweet acceptance of my dark side.
I love her.
I’m not sure I even knew what love is until this moment.
Wolves don’t think in those terms. We mate by scent, by fate, not by human emotion. But what I feel for Sadie is real. It’s beyond scent and the drive to mark her. It’s about who she is. How she makes me feel. The man I want to be for her.
I want to keep Sadie Diaz. Mate her. Marry her. Everything.
The moment she gets my pants down my hips, I step out of them and walk her backwards to the bed. Her knees hit the mattress, and she falls backward, my hand behind her head to gentle the landing.
I crawl over her, then remember a condom. I quickly kick off my briefs, retrieve a rubber and come back to the bed.
Sadie’s wearing a tiny thong. Her skin glows bronze in the moonlight. I bite the string of the panties and drag them down her legs with my teeth. Her laughter is musical and sweet. I kiss my way up her leg, starting with the calf, moving to the inner thigh and up to the apex. I lay a soft kiss on her mound, then push her legs open.
“Spread for me, baby,” I tell her.
She moans softly before my tongue even touches her. I lick into her, parting her lips and dragging my tongue through her wetness. I swirl around her entrance then around her clit.
“You’re so good at that.” She sounds breathless. Already desperate. I want to keep her that way all night long.
“I’m gonna make you come so hard,” I boast, sliding a finger inside her.
She squirms to take it deeper, and I back it out and slip in two digits, using them to caress her inner wall. I find her G-spot, feel the tissue tighten beneath the pads of my fingertips.
Her legs thrash around me, and she cries out. I lave her clit, suck the tiny nubbin as I continue to rub her G-spot.
“Deke! Oh God, it’s so good.”
I hum against her flesh. Or maybe it’s a growl. It doesn’t matter. I’m in control. She’s given me strength with her trust. I’m not going to mark her. I’m going to make her come like she’s never come before.
I pump my fingers, bumping into her G-spot with each thrust. She screams and tears at my hair, pressing my face into her flesh, even though I never stopped sucking that sweet little clit.
Her hips jerk and convulse. Her channel squeezes and pumps my fingers as she comes. I stop pumpi
ng while she goes off, then slow my stroking, bringing on a second release. I release my suction-hold on her clit and flick it with my tongue. A third after-shock rolls through her.
“Oh my God,” she pants. “Deke. It’s so good.” She tugs my ears to lift my head from her swollen flesh. “Come here,” she begs. “I need you inside me.”
I grin, her juices coating my lips. “I am inside you.” I stroke her G-spot again to remind her, and a fourth tidal wave hits.
“What about…. Um… fucking me so hard?”
A chuckle rumbles out of me. “Sadie Diaz, did you just say fuck instead of fudge?”
She laughs. “It seemed appropriate.”
“Mmm.” I crawl up over her. She’s right. It does seem appropriate. I pick up the condom package, which I’d dropped on the bed, and rip it open. “I did promise you a good fucking, didn’t I?”
“Uh huh.” Her knees drop open, and her eyelids droop in anticipation. She may be sweet, but she’s not prude. She’s adorable.
I roll the condom on and rise up on my knees, lining the head of my cock up with her entrance. “Making you come is a fucking priviledge, Sadie Diaz.”
Shit, I have zero filters tonight. The relief of having my darkness exposed to her and her acceptance of it utterly changed me.
A shiver ripples through her, and her kiss-swollen lips part. She reaches for my cock and fists it firmly, guiding me in. “I need you,” she repeats.
Fuck. I need her, too.
So badly.
One stroke inside her, and I’m lost. The moon already has my blood hot. My canines lengthen, but I close my mouth firmly around them. I’m going to keep control. For Sadie, I can do it.
I slam into her with more force than I intend, but she arches and moans with satisfaction, as if it was exactly the thing she needed. “I’m gonna fuck you until you can’t walk straight tomorrow.”
I ease back and slam home again, firm and sure. Her head slides up the bed, and I have to catch her shoulder to keep it from hitting the headboard.
“F-fuck me, Deke.”
I don’t know why hearing her say the word fuck undoes me. Because it’s so unlike her. Because it means she really wants this.
I snap my hips faster, plunging in and out, watching her face for signs I’m being too rough.
I don’t see any, though. She seems to want every bit I want to give. She’s gorgeous—her thick, dark hair spread out on the pillow in a halo around her head. Her beautiful breasts pointing toward the ceiling, nipples tight and eager for my mouth. I bend and take one between my lips, sucking it.
She moans her pleasure.
The sound makes me snap my hips hard again, the pressure building at the base of my spine.
“Yes,” she encourages.
I suck the other nipple, so it doesn’t feel left out.
She pinches one of mine, which makes me smile.
“You want it hard?” I ask, belatedly, because I’m already fucking her hard. Maybe I just need to be sure.
“Yes!” she agrees. “I want it so hard.”
“Oh fuck.” I brace my hand against the headboard and work my cock between her legs—fast, with short thrusts—in, in, in, in. Each time I do, she lets out a high-pitched “uhn, uhn, uhn, uhn” that drives me fucking wild.
I’m sure the entire resort floor can hear us going at it, and that makes my wolf proud as hell.
I brace with both hands and arc into her, even faster. Even harder.
Her wild gaze is on my face. Her lips stay open for her cries of pleasure. The bed rocks against the wall, slamming into it again and again.
My wolf snarls, wanting me to set him free, dying to mark her. But I resist.
For Sadie, I resist.
“Oh Deke. Please… please!” she’s begging me. To stop? To come?
Just the thought of coming makes it happen. I wanted to fuck her all night, but the pleasure was too intense. Cum shoots down my staff. Sadie wraps her legs around me and pulls me deeper, holding me in as we both reach orgasm in perfect concert.
I let out a strangled shout. My wolf hurtles my head down into the crook of her neck, teeth ready to sink into her flesh, but at the last moment, I throw it back, like a man howling at the moon. A man-wolf, telling the whole fucking world he’s found his female.
His mate.
Mark her, my wolf whimpers.
Not yet.
He seems to sense the promise in my warning. That I do plan to mark her, just not tonight. My canines retract again.
Sadie’s safe.
Sadie’s mine.
As for telling her I’m a wolf, as for marking her—we’ll get there. When I’m certain I can always keep her safe.
Safe from my wolf and my darkness.
Chapter 13
Sadie
I wake in a warm bed. Alone, but there’s a note on the pillow from Deke.
Gone for a run.
I smile and stretch, feeling good from my hair-sprayed head to my pointed toes. Mission Seduce Deke went well.
We’re leaving today. Our fake boyfriend operation will be over. No promises on how our relationship will continue, but after the talk we had last night, I have so much optimism that we can work things out.
I pull on my hiking boots and head outside. The resort is quiet this morning, with barely anyone about. The rest of the wedding party will be sleeping late.
Outside the air is fresh and clean. It’s the perfect morning for a hike. Hopefully, I’ll run into Deke, and we can pick up where we left off.
I bounce down the hiking trail, quickly leaving the green resort grounds for a worn, rocky path. A twig snaps behind me.
“Deke?” I call, turning and heading back the way I came.
“Sadie.” Scott steps out from behind a bushy bristlecone pine tree.
Ew! Total creeper! I skid to a halt. “Scott.”
“We need to talk.” His voice is hoarse. He’s still in his tux from last night. His eyes are red and his breath stinks like vodka.
Yuck.
“Did you even sleep last night?”
“Can’t sleep.” He seizes my arms, and I get a whiff of his foul breath mixed with stale cologne up close. I gag, trying to push him off.
“Go away.” I manage to get free. He trips on a rock, trying to follow.
“Sadie, I want to be with you.”
“No. You just think someone’s playing with your toy. I never meant anything to you. It was about my dad’s contacts. You can’t get development projects through the town council without his support.”
“Fuck, Sadie, no.” He staggers forward and falls on me, his heavy weight dragging me down. I scream and try to wrench my jacket out of his grip.
“Scott, you’re hurting me—”
A savage growl sounds from the slope above us. Every hair on my body bristles in warning.
Predator!
My muscles turn to stone, and I stop fighting Scott, who fumbles, pawing at me, before standing straight, belatedly turning towards the threat. There’s another growl, and a huge black shape bounds down the slope toward us.
“Wha—?” Scott’s question is cut off by the giant shadow slamming into him. He goes down flailing, and I scream.
Scott lands on the ground, and over him stands the biggest, baddest black wolf I’ve ever seen.
I stumble backward. My boot hits a rock, and I fall, catching myself at the last moment. The wolf’s head turns toward me, and I flinch.
Then it swivels back to Scott, opens its giant jaws and lets out a growl that’s more like a roar.
Run! Adrenaline screams in my veins.
Scott lets out a high-pitched squeal. Fudge, he’s about to get eaten. I have to do something! My legs wobble.
“No!” I snap in my sternest teacher voice. Without thinking, I grab a branch to beat the wolf off of him.
Before I can swing, the wolf backs off. Somehow Scott scrambles upwards.
“Hey!” I try to distract the wolf, so Scott can get away—
and he does, hightailing it up to the resort, his shredded tux tails flapping in his wake. Leaving me with the wolf.
Alone.
What a prick.
I take a backward step and adjust my grip on the branch. Fudge.
“This is not how I thought I’d go,” I tell the wolf.
To my utter shock, the wolf sits and whines.
Like a freaking pet!
“Um… okay. Good wolf.” I take a slow step backward.
He watches me. There’s no sign of his teeth, but I’ll never forget the sight of them. This beast is a killer. And I can’t outrun him—I saw how fast he came down that mountainside.
What am I going to do?
He starts toward me—not in a lunge. More of a trot, but I flinch. The moment I do, he stops and sits again. Then I catch a glint of silver in the thick ruff around its neck. The wolf turns its head, and the flat silver rectangle catches the light more clearly.
I gasp. “Th-those are Deke’s! You’re wearing Deke’s dog tags.” What does this mean? Goose flesh crawls up my arms.
I put my hand over my mouth. There are two options here. The wolf either ate Deke and is wearing his dog tags as a trophy or…
“Sherlock Holmes said, Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth,” I say in a shaky voice.
The wolf cocks its head to the side, like it’s listening.
“You either ate Deke, or… you are Deke.”
The wolf chuffs and jerks its head like it’s nodding.
But no. That’s impossible. “You better not have eaten Deke,” I laugh-cry, semi-hysterical. “He’s my boyfriend, and I really like him.” I lift the branch, fully prepared to avenge my lover.
The wolf drops to its belly and crawls forward in supplication.
“D-deke?” It’s so ridiculous, so impossible, and yet… those green eyes. I’ve definitely seen them before. Now I understand why they glowed in the dark.
The wolf gets up and trots behind some bushes. A low growling sound makes tingles rise on my skin, and then Deke, my giant, muscled boyfriend rises from the wolf’s hiding place.
